Dec 3, 2015 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Though reports indicate a resolution might be coming soon to the state budget impasse, several Greene County school districts are still hedging their bets by borrowing money or considering borrowing money to fund their operations.

Jefferson-Morgan School Board authorized its administration earlier this week to begin the process required to borrow about $2 million to get the district through lean times until a state budget is approved and money starts to flow.

“We’re still able to pay our bills, but the well is running dry,” Jefferson-Morgan Acting Superintendent Craig Baily said Thursday.

“The board is very much concerned that the Legislature and governor have not come to agreement on a budget. This has gone on way too long.”

The board authorized the administration to begin preparing the paperwork necessary to obtain a loan.

“It’s a long process; that’s why we’re starting now,” Baily said. “If we don’t have a state budget in January, we’ll have all our ducks in order to get the necessary loan.”

Carmichaels Area School District already secured a $2 million revenue anticipation loan, but has not yet had to spend any of the money, district business manager Amy Todd said.

“We’ve been using our fund balance to fund our operations in the wake of the state’s unfunded budget,” she said. The district should be able to get by until the end of December without using any money from the loan, she said.

Though there has been talk in Harrisburg of including money in the state budget to cover the costs for school districts that have to borrow money, nothing is definite, she said.

The district has been doing what it can to control costs, Todd said. It has not, however, curtailed any student activities.

“If we can do without it, we do without it,” she said.

Southeastern Greene business manager Pat Sweeney said he also is investigating a loan, though his board has not yet taken any action on the matter.

“We’re down about $2 million in state funding from this time last year,” Sweeney said. “At some point in time, if this stalemate goes on, like any other school district, we’re going to have to borrow money.”

West Greene School District business manager Shannon Rutan said her district should be able to get by until early spring.

“We’re probably looking at April (when money will be needed), if the state holds out that long,” she said.

Like the other districts, Rutan said, her district has been doing a little belt tightening.

“If somebody wants something and they don’t need it until spring, we tell them to wait until spring,” Rutan said.

Central Greene School District is in the same position and probably won’t have to consider a loan until early spring, Superintendent Brian Uplinger said.

“We’ve been utilizing revenue from local taxes and our fund balance,” he said. “We should be good until about April, give or take, then we might need to go out to get a loan.”